Will democracy survive this election? If big business and big money buy this election, we will no longer be a democracy. We will be an oligarchy, where the decisions of our county will be only in the hands of the wealthiest.

Despite Mitt Romney’s claim that "corporations are people,” businesses are not people. They do not possess souls, hearts and faith. They are entities whose only concern is making money.

In 1776 we were ruled by the rich and the powerful. We revolted then. Unless we revolt again — this time at the ballot box — we will be rolled over and crushed. To preserve our democracy, we must vote against candidates who are bought and paid for by big money. We must also vote for propositions that retain the voice of the people.

Do we really believe now that the God-endowed individual rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” should be subsumed by the Wall Street and Big Oil values of wealth, power and the pursuit of control? We must stand up to bullying by the powerful few or we will disappear and they will pay the rich dividends from our loss to themselves.

Lincoln said we are a government “of the people, by the people, for the people.” Will this still be true after the election?